To have confronted family who tried to shame me at school performance? (period related)

[Detest]

Went to DS recital at school tonight. Wearing new linen trousers with, as I now realise, have shallow pockets. Had been running round on hospital runs and other errands all day so had put 2 non-applicator tampons in my pocket.
Sitting in bleacher type seating watching school performance and heard giggling and chatter from family behind me (mother, father, 2 kids). They were Polish so probably thought I wouldn't understand, but were laughing as one of the tampons had fallen out of my pocket.
I waited until the end of the performance and told them it was extremely rude to talk through a child's performance but I'd make sure I did the same when their daughters turn came (obviously I wouldn't do that) then questioned how they'd feel if someone tried to humiliate their daughter in the same way as she's obviously going to start her periods soon if she hasn't already. They were mortified and left.
DP thinks IABU but I think I shouldn't be shamed for carrying sanitary products.

For the record, I understood the basics of what they said because eldest DD has a Polish BF.

This is what I think probably happened too and in retelling it to MN she added the ‘I can understand Polish’ bit to preempt all the ‘but how do you know what they were saying’ replies she would obviously get.

I aways wish I could speak other languages when I hear families suddenly flip into their home tongue from English. I think “what are you saying you don’t want others to know”

Yes dear. If true, however, it all smacks of 'putting Johnny Foreigner in his place ' to me. It's only a blinking tampon, and says more about your 'shame' in having to use them, than their childish reaction.

My husband of 10 years has a Polish mum. I'm over there all the time, where she's speaking Polish with her friends constantly. I still only know about 20 words in Polish! I definitely wouldn't understand a family conversation about tampons...

Bleachers? Unusual for a school in the U.K.

I would just glare, this is so childish. I would not have made noise though, not because of them but the others who don't need this. It's difficult enough to get time out to watch our kids. I would not miss one more second on them.

"I think “what are you saying you don’t want others to know”"

That is what a lot of people think, even if they are not even part of the group.

They are vastly overestimating their importance.

thank God you were there OP, to teach these terrible foreigners how to behave…

Yes, this, Polish is one of the hardest languages to learn (as an English speaker)

For all the judgy-chinnies - you don't have to be anything like fluent in Polish to understand the word tampon or Tampax.

Oh completely.
it probably is a natural slip into it.

Chattering and laughing through a school performance is shitty behaviour, but a shush would have been more than enough.

Like PP, I’m also struggling to believe you picked up enough to know they were laughing about your sanpro - unless they were using a brand name or the word “tampon” itself.

Polish is a very hard language and I doubt your Dd's BF would talk about periods and tampons in front of you so not sure how exactly you were so smart to figure out what the entire conversation was about?

Ah one of those Friday night threads

I feel like this is a worthy contender for the "Didn't Happen Of The Year Awards".

You know enough polish from your DDs best friend/boy friend, to understand an on-going piss-take about a strangers tampon, from some people sat behind you, in the middle of a concert?

And were then upset enough to chastise them to such a degree that they were "mortified" and left?

No you didn't.

Priamfarri, is it? Have you been around all the schools? They have them at ours

My car is French so obviously I picked up some French when driving.

My dog eats German food so I understand a little German.

Why did you not just shush them (in polish)?

I particularly love the detail that the trousers were linen…

See attached image.

First depends if you were absolutely sure that’s what they were laughing at. Still I’m not sure you should have shamed them into leaving, but they should really have just given you a polite nudge to draw your attention to the tampon.

This feel like a story that should end with ‘then everyone stood up and applauded me and on the way out everyone wanted to shake my hand’

I think it is what the op imagines the middle-class, middle-aged posters on mumsnet wear. Extra convincing detail.

Ditto the "hospital rounds" so we know she's not only middle-class and righteous but is also a doctor.

Had me fooled, tbh

Unless you literally have eyes in the back of your head none of this happened.